Richard T. Lipan, Norman C. Gysbers, Yongmin Sun presented a research study named as “The Impact of More Fully Implemented Guidance Programs on the School Experiences of High School Students: A Statewide Evaluation Study “in 1997. The researchers have conducted this study statewide in order to find the relationship among diversified guidance programs and school experiences of the students in High Schools. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of fully comprehensive guidance programs on the desired outcomes of high school students across different states of the country.
In this research study, the researchers’ first goal was to explore whether comprehensive guidance programs of high schools in different states play a major role in students’ academic improvement. The second goal was to find out that comprehensive guidance programs in high school increase the academic performance of the students irrespective of their gender, race, socioeconomic Status of their family, school enrollment, etc. The third goal of the researchers was to investigate the possible positive influence of comprehensive guidance programs on the environment of high schools, leading to the improved academic performance of the pupils. The fourth goal of the current research study was to find out whether the guidance programs fulfill the career development needs of high school students by providing adequate career information.
In this study, the school improvement program of Missouri schools was studied to find the relationship between comprehensive guidance programs and the behavior of students toward academic performance, school environment, and career development. In order to achieve the desired goals, the researchers have used three research questions. The first research question was: is there a positive relationship between students’ features and desired outcomes? The second question examined in the current study was whether there is a positive relationship between the level of implementation of a comprehensive guidance program and students’ anticipations towards academic performance, the likeness of the school environment, and career development. The third research question focused on by the researchers in this study is to explore the positive impact of the level of fully implemented guidance programs of high school on regression slope among students’ desired academic outcomes and a range of students’ characteristics, including gender, socioeconomic status of parents, school environment, etc.
This study used data from a random sample of 22,964 students of Missouri high schools for the years 1992-1995, which is available in the MISP database. The variables considered in this research study were school characteristics, school environment, students’ characteristics, and students’ desired outcomes, which were tested by using a Likert scale to obtain the results for making decisions. The school characteristics consist of the level of implementation of guidance programs in high schools, enrollment size, socioeconomic status of the school, and the strength of minority students were analyzed in this study. The school environment was considered as school safety, uninterrupted classes, and the behavior of classmates. The student characteristics considered in this research included gender, parents’ qualifications, minority students, career information availed at school, etc. The desired results of the study included students’ grades, students’ perception of the quality of education for career development, and the likeness of school.
A hierarchical linear modeling approach was used in this study to analyze the data of Missouri high schools and investigate the impact of comprehensive guidance programs on the academic improvement of students. The impact of the school environment and the relationship between students’ characteristics and outcomes were achieved by using regression slope and interception. In order to measure the statistical significance, the researchers have used a t-test. The findings of the hierarchical linear model supported the four goals of this study. The findings showed that the schools that have implemented comprehensive guidance programs are playing a major role in improving the academic performance of their students. The students reading in those schools that have implemented comprehensive guidance programs believed that their schools are providing adequate career development information and that they like their school environment more than other students. The study also found that comprehensive guidance programs do not influence the relationship between students’ outcomes and the gender, race, and socioeconomic status of students.
